Certain Territories contain symbols, which provide bonuses to the
side controlling them:
By Barny Skinner
A Solitaire Card-Driven Wargame - 30 Minutes
King Alric is mad, everyone knows that; a rusty mind on a rusty
throne. As the heir to Prydon's northern highlands, the troubles of
court are far away for you until the King has your father executed for
a treason he didn't commit. Pledging to end his reign, you march to
war. The other Lords of the land stand with the King for now; no
matter, you will take their castles by force. The King has more men,
more resources and more power, but you have friends at court, spies
who can influence the King's military decisions. Perhaps that will be
enough, if the flames of heaven will it.
A Rusty Throne is a solitaire card-driven wargame, where you play
as a northern Lord rebelling against the despotic rule of the King,
rallying troops, moving armies to war and seeking to capture all three
other castles on the map to bring an end to Alric's reign of terror.
Components
A Rusty Throne is a Print-and-Play game, consisting of the following
components:
l This rules document
l A map of the Kingdom of Prydon, to be printed on A4 or
Letter sized paper or card
l 18 Action Cards, used to control both the player's and the
King's forces, and to determine the results of Battles
l 9 Hard Action Cards with a Skull icon, any number of which
may be added to the deck to increase the game's difficulty.
l Additionally, you will require 20 small cubes, pawns or other
markers, in two colours, 10 of each, to represent the Forces
under the control of you and the King.
The Map
The map shows a representation of the entire island Kingdom of
Prydon, which is split into 9 Territories, numbered from 1 to 9. Each
Territory borders several other Territories, and Forces may move
from one Territory to adjacent ones during the game. If either you or
the King have Forces in a Territory, that Territory is controlled by that
side, gaining any benefits of symbols printed in it. If Forces from the
other side move into a controlled Territory, a Battle will take place.
A Castle represents the seat of a High Lord, where
troops can be rallied by the force in controlling the
Territory. If you control all four Territories with Castles
on the map, you win the game, but if the King ever
controls your Castle, you lose.
Wheat represent that a Territory produces a lot of food.
Armies have to eat, so there is a limit on the number of
Forces you may have in any one Territory, equal to the
number of Wheat symbols in Territories you control.
e.g. if you control Territories with a total of four Wheat
symbols, you may have a maximum of four Forces in
any Territory. If you ever have more Forces in a
Territory than you control Wheat symbols, you must
immediately remove the excess Forces.
Bugles are used in Battles to determine the victor, and
the defender of a Territory with printed Bugles will gain
that number of Bugles in Battles when attacked in that
Territory, making them harder to defeat. See Battles
for more information.
Likewise, Shields are also used in Battles, and the
defender of a Territory with Shield symbols will benefit
from that many extra Shields in Battles when they are
attacked in that Territory, making the defenders harder
to kill. See Battles for more information.
The numbers in each Territory are used for the King's Actions, to
determine the order and priority with which each Territory will be
selected. See King's Actions for more information.
Action Cards
Bugles Swords Shields
King's Action Command Points Priority
Action Cards contain various symbols, because they are used in
various ways.
Along the top are symbols for Bugles, Swords and Shields, with 0-3
of each, which are used in Battles. See Battles for more information.
In the centre of the card is the King's Action, which determines what
the King will do in the turn the card is played. The various symbols
used are explained under King's Action below. Some cards have
two King's Actions, which happen one after the other.
The flags along the bottom represent the number of Command
Points you will be able to use in the Player Action phase when this
card is played.
The arrow at the bottom right shows the Priority of the card; Rising
(pointing up) or Falling (pointing down), which is used in the King's
Action and Battle phases to determine order Territories are selected,
and to determine movement directions for the King's Forces.
Hard Action Cards are Action Cards marked with a Skull symbol
above the Command flags. You may choose to include any number
of these in the deck for a game to increase the difficulty. During the
game they function identically to any other Action Card. Any Hard
Action Cards not shuffled into the deck at the start of the game are
put aside and not used.
Object of the Game
The goal of the game is to control all four Castles on the map. If you
ever lose your home Castle, the game is over and you have lost.
Important Concepts
Each card contains a priority arrow, which determines the order
Territories are cycled through for the King's Action, and to determine
ties for the King's Movement when there are two equidistant options.
An upwards arrow represents Rising Priority, starting at the lowest
numbered territories and working upwards, and a downward arrow
denotes Falling Priority, starting at the highest numbers and falling.
Thus Rising Priority will cycle through Territories from 1 to 9, and
Falling from 9 to 1.
If a card has two King's Actions, the first Action is completed in its
entirety before the second is resolved.
The King always has a maximum Force limit of 5 Forces per Teritory;
if he ever has more than this in one Territory the excess are
immediately removed. Your Force limit varies depending on the
number of Wheat symbols in Territories you control, as explained in
The Map above.
Any time the deck of Action Cards is empty, immediately shuffle the
discard pile to form a new deck. Likewise, whenever your hand of
Action Cards is empty, immediately draw a new hand of 5 cards.
You do not draw new cards until you have played your whole hand,
so every card you draw must get played at some point, though you
will be able to discard some of them in Battles.
A Territory is considered Controlled if a one side has Forces in it.
During the King's Actions any Territories with both sides' Forces will
remain under your control, and during Player Actions they will remain
under the King's Control, until Battles resolve the ownership of the
Territories.
Setup
Place the Map on the table, with 2 cubes/pawns/counters (Forces) of
one colour in Territory 1 for your starting Forces, and 2 Forces of the
other colour in each of the Territories 3, 7 and 9, to represent the
King's starting Forces.
Shuffle the Action Cards (including as many Hard Action Cards as
you wish to make the game more challenging and place them face
down to form a deck, and draw a hand of 5 starting cards.
Turn Structure
Turns are structured as follows:
l Player Card Phase
m Play Action Card
m King's Action
n Resolve any Battles
m Player Actions
n Resolve any Battles
m Discard used Action Card
l King's Card Phase
m Play Action Card
m King's Action
n Resolve any Battles
m Player Actions
n Resolve any Battles
m Discard used Action Card
Phases
Each turn has two phases; the Player Card Phase and the King's
Card Phase. In the Player Card Phase, you play a card from your
hand which determines the King's Action and your Command Points,
then in the King's Card Phase you draw a card from the top of the
deck for the King, which again determines the King's Action and your
Command Points.
Other than the source of the Action card, both Phases are resolved in
the same way.
Play Action Card
At the start of the Player Card Phase, you must play an Action Card
from your hand to the table (not to the discard pile).
At the start of the King's Card Phase, you must instead draw an
Action Card from the top of the deck to the table.
In either case, this card will determine the King's Action, Command
Points and Priority for the turn.
King's Action
You must now resolve the King's Action from the card played. If the
card has more than one King's Action, resolve the top Action first,
followed by the bottom Action.
The symbols for the King's Actions fall into three types: King's
Rallying, King's Movement and Uncertain Orders.
King's Rallying
The Banner symbol represents King's Rallying, where the King calls
his banners, raising new armies at Castles he Controls. To resolve
King's Rallying, go through each Territory with a Castle Controlled by
the King in Priority order (1 to 9 for Rising or 9 to 1 for Falling), and
add a single extra King's Force at each. If you run out of Forces in
the King's colour, as they are all on the Map already, nothing further
happens.
Remember the King has a maximum Force limit of 5, so do not add a
Force to a Territory if there are already 5 Forces in that Territory.
If both the King and you have Forces in the same Territory with a
Castle, the King will not Rally Forces there.
King's Movement
King's Movement is represented by an arrow pointing towards a
symbol. This means that the King's Forces will move towards the
closest instance of that symbol, with the Helmet symbol representing
your Forces; these three symbols can therefore be read respectively
as:
Move towards closest Castle
Move towards closest Wheat
Move towards closest Player Forces
The procedure to resolve the King's Movement is as follows:
l Work through all Territories on the map in Priority order; If
Priority is Rising start at Territory 1 and work up to 9, and if
Priority is Falling start at 9 and work down to 1.
l If there are any King's Forces in the selected Territory, work
out the closest Territory or Territories in terms of number of
moves neccessary that matches the symbol on the card.
l Work out which adjacent Territory/Territories the King's
Forces would need to move to in order to take the shortest
path to the goal(s).
l If the target symbol is already in that Territory with the
King's Forces, or if the Territory contains the both the King's
and your Forces, they will not move.
l If the Territory contains a Castle, one Force will remain in
the Territory to defend the Castle, while the rest will move.
l If there is a tie in terms of distance to take to get to the
closest relevant symbol, or two or more equidistant
symbols, the move taken will be determined by the Action
Card's Priority - move to the highest numbered Territory of
the evenly distant options if the priority is Rising, and the
lowest number of those tied if the priority is Falling. The
Arrow thus shows the direction of travel; Rising to higher
options or Falling to lower ones.
l Remember that the King can never have more than 5 units
in any one Territory; if a move would cause him to go over
this limit some Forces must remain behind and not Move -
this could be some or all of them.
l Once you have completed the move, move on to the next
Territory in Priority order, until all Territories have been
resolved.
Note that as Territories are worked through one at a time, this can
result in some of the King's Forces moving more than once in a
single action if they move into a Territory which has not yet been
resolved - the King has a lot of resources at his disposal and can
often move his forces quickly around the map as a result.
King's Movement Example
The King (Red) has Forces in four Territories (3, 4, 7 and 9). The
following Action Card is played:
The King's Action is therefore King's Movement towards closest
Player Forces, with a Falling Priority.
The first Territory to consider is therefore 9, as it's the highest and
Priority is Falling. From 9, the closest Player Forces are in 2 and 5,
equidistant at 3 moves away each. The possible moves are therefore
to 4 or 6, and with the Priority as Falling the correct move is to 4, as
it's the lowest of the options. However, as 9 contains a Castle, one of
the King's Forces must remain behind to defend it, so only one of the
two Forces moves from 9 to 4.
The King has no forces in 8, so it is skipped, and the next Territory to
consider is 7. Territory 7 has two adjacent Territories containing
Player Forces, so the possible moves are to 2 or 5, and with a Falling
Priority, this means the King's Forces will move to 2. As 7 has a
Castle, one Force again remains behind, the other moves into 2.
With no King's Forces in 6 or 5, 4 is the next to consider. Again, the
Forces in 2 and 5 are equidistant, with possible moves into 7 or 8 as
equally short moves to get to the targets, so 7 is chosen as the lower
option. The Forces in 4 therefore move to reinforce the castle in 7;
note that this means one of the Forces has moved twice, from 9 to 4
to 7 - this is correct and allowable.
For the Forces in 3 the decision is easy, they must move on 5,
leaving one Force behind to defend the Castle.
While there is now a King's Force in 2 attacking the Player's Forces,
it will not move again, as it is already in Battle with them.
There are no King's forces in 1, so all King's Movement is now
complete.
Final positions after King's Movement:
Uncertain Orders
Your spies in the King's Court are not always perfect, and can't
always predict or influence the King's decisions in his madness; The
Cards symbol represents Uncertain Orders.
When an Action Card with Uncertain Orders is played, you must deal
the top card from the deck, and take the King's Action from that card
instead of the one played. The Command Points and Priority from the
card originally played remain in effect, only the King's Action is taken
from the newly drawn card.
If the newly drawn card also shows Uncertain Orders, keep drawing
until you get to a card that has a different King's Action. Any cards
drawn for Uncertain Orders are immediately added to the discard
pile.
Battle
Any Territories containing both your Forces and the King's Forces
must fight a Battle for control of that Territory. Battles can take place
after the King's Action and/or the Player's Action, whenever there are
Territories to fight over.
The procedure for resolving Battles is as follows:
l Work through all Battles in Priority order
m Play an Action Card for its Battle Effects
m Draw for the King's Battle Effects
m Add Territory Battle Effects to the Defender
m Compare Swords and Shields, and remove
casualties
m Add Force numbers and Bugles to determine
winner
m Loser withdraws
l Resolve next Battle
Work through all Battles in Priority order
Battles are resolved one after the other, in Priority order determined
by the Action Card played, so if Priority is Rising you will resolve
Battles in lower numbered Territories first, or if Priority is Falling you
will start with the highest numbered Territories.
Play an Action Card for its Battle Effects
Select an Action Card from your hand, and play it to the table. This
card will not be used for its Actions, but to determine your tactics for
the Battle using the Battle Effects along the top of the card; Bugles,
Swords and Shields, which are used to determine the combat result:
Bugles are added to the surviving Forces to determine the winner.
Swords are used to kill enemy Forces.
Shields are used to block enemy Swords.
Whatever card you play will be discarded after the Battle, so will not
be used for its King's Action or Command Points, so select carefully.
Draw for the King's Battle Effects
Once you have played your Battle card, draw the top card of the deck
and place it next to your card, to determine the King's Battle Effects.
Add Territory Battle Effects to the Defender
Some Territories on the map, namely those with Castles, have
Bugles and/or Shields printed in them - when defending these
Territories against attackers, you or the King will gain the benefit of
these extra symbols, in addition to those on the relevant Battle Card.
This benefit is only gained by the defender, not the attacking side
who just moved in to start the Battle.
Compare Swords and Shields, and remove casualties
Take the number of Swords on the King's Battle Card and deduct the
number of Shields you have played (including any defender territory
bonus). This is the number of casualties your side will take. If this
number is more than the number of Forces the King has in the
Territory, reduce the number to the same number as the King's
Forces - neither side can ever kill more Forces than they have
Forces in the Battle.
Repeat the procedure with your Swords and the King's Shields to
determine the number of casualties the King will take, again reducing
if you end up dealing more Casualties than you have Forces.
Casualities for both sides are considered to be simultaneous.
Once you have done this, remove the correct number of Casualties
for each side. Any excess casualities beyond the number of Forces
available to be killed are lost.
Add Force numbers and Bugles to determine winner
If after removing casualties, only one side has Forces remaining, or
both sides have been completely destroyed, the Battle is over. If at
least one Force from each side remains, you must determine the
winner of the Battle.
Add the remaining number of Forces you have in the Territory to the
number of Bugles you have played, adding any territory defender
Bonus. Do the same procedure for the King, and compare the two
numbers; the higher total number of Forces plus Bugles wins the
Battle. If the total numbers are drawn, the Defending side is
considered to have won the Battle.
Loser withdraws
The winning Forces will remain in the Territory, but the losing Forces
must withdraw to an adjacent Territory.
If you lost the Battle, you may chose which adjacent Territory to
withdraw to, with a couple of caveats; you may never withdraw to a
Territory containing the King's Forces, and all of your Forces must
withdraw together to the same Territory.
Once you have withdrawn, double check your Force Limit, especially
if you have withdrawn into a Territory with more of your Forces, or
withdrawn from a Territory with a Wheat symbol. If you are over your
Force Limit in any Territory, remove the excess as normal.
If the King loses the Battle, work out which Territories he could
withdraw to (i.e. adjacent Territories not containing your Forces), and
use the Priority arrow on the King's Battle Card to determine which
one he will withdraw to; the highest numbered option for a Rising
Priority or the lowest numbered option for a Falling Priority.
If there are no possible Territories to withdraw to, because all
adjacent Territories contain enemy Forces, all losing Forces from the
Battle cannot escape and are removed as casualties.
Resolve next Battle
Once a Battle has been resolved, discard both Battle Cards played,
and move on to the next Battle in Priority order, if there are any. If
not, Battle is complete, so move on to the next stage of the turn.
Battle Example
Your 4 (Yellow) Forces are attacking the King's 2 Forces who are
defending the Castle in Territory 7.
You play a card from your hand with 2 Bugles and 1 Sword.
You draw a card from the deck for the The King which has 3 Swords.
As the King is defending a Territory containing Battle symbols, he
gains a Shield and Bugle; his total is 3 Swords, 1 Shield and 1 Bugle.
Your Sword is blocked by the King's Shield, so you inflict no
casualties on the King's Forces.
The King's 3 Swords would kill 3 of your Forces, but since he only
has 2 Forces in the Terrority, he can only kill a maximum of 2, so 2 of
your Forces are removed as casualties.
You each have 2 Forces remaining in the Territory, so you must
resolve the winner. Adding together Bugles to surviving Forces, you
have a total of 4 and the King 3, so the King's Forces must withdraw.
Because you have Forces in Territories 2 and 5, the only available
options for the King's Forces to withdraw to are 4 and 8. The Priority
on the King's Battle Card is Rising, so his Forces withdraw to
Territory 8. As this now means he has 6 Forces in the territory, he
must remove one as he is over the Force limit for the Territory.
Player Actions
Once the King's Action and any subsequent Battles are resolved, you
may take Player Actions, spending the Command points from the
Action Card played to Rally and Move Forces. The number of
Command Points you have available is equal to the number of Flags
at the bottom of the card.
You may take multiple Player Actions to spend these Command
Points. You do not always have to use all the Command Points
available to you, but may never spend more than the number of
Flags on the card, and may not store Command Points between
turns.
There are two Player Actions available to you:
l Rally Force - 2 Command Points
l Move Forces - 1 Command Point
Rally Force
Spend 2 Command Points and add one Force at a single Territory
you control containing a Castle. Always obey Force limits based on
the Wheat symbols you control; you may never have more Forces in
one Territory than the number of Wheat symbols in Territories you
control.
If you already have all of your Force tokens on the Board, you may
not Rally new Forces.
Move Forces
Spend 1 Command Point to move any number of your Forces from
one Territory to a single adjacent Territory, again obeying the Force
limits based on Wheat symbols at all times. You do not have to Move
all Forces from a Territory, and all those that do move must end up in
the same Territory.
If you move into a Territory with the King's Forces, a Battle will take
place after you have completed all your Player Actions. You do not
count as controlling this Territory while the King still has Forces
there, so may not increase Wheat limits or Rally Forces there until
after the Battle (if you win).
There is no limit to the number of times you may Move Forces, even
the same Forces, during a turn, other than your available Command
Points.
Post Player Action Battles
Once you have finished taking Player Actions, you must resolve any
Battles which occur as a result of your moving into the Territories
with the King's Forces. These are resolved in exactly the same
manner as those after the King's Action, save that the King will now
be the Defender and benefit from any Territory Battle Effects.
Discard used Action Card
Once the Player Actions and any resulting Battles are complete,
discard the Action Card played.
King's Card Phase
After the Player Card Phase, when your Action card has been
resolved in full, with King's Action, Player Actions and any Battles,
the King gets to play an Action card of his own. Draw a card from the
top of the deck, and repeat all the turn steps as if you had played the
card; resolve the King's Action, any Battles, Player Actions, any
further Battles and then discard the card.
Other than the source of the Action card, the King's Card Phase is
resolved identically to the Player Card Phase.
Continue playing turns until you either win by controlling all four
Castles, or lose by no longer controlling your Castle in Territory 1.
May the Flames of Heaven guide you to victory, my Lord.
_______________________________________________
Designer's Notes
A Rusty Throne was created for the BoardGameGeek 2019
Wargame Print and Play Contest. My goal was create a diceless
"Dudes-on-a-Map" Wargame for one player, using elements from
Card Drived Games like Twilight Struggle and Paths of Glory, with a
combat system reminiscent of A Game of Thrones or Kemet, and an
enemy AI that provides a challenge without requiring any overhead,
complex flowcharts, or player decisions to guide it.
I'd be very happy to receive any feedback, and will likely be
amending the game a few times during the contest. You can
message on BGG as Zombocom, or comment in the WIP thread for
the game:
https://boardgamegeek.com/article/32219949
A Rusty Throne v1.1 - Copyright 2019 Barny Skinner
Icon Assets from The Noun Project